Football Places Five on All-Big 12 Teams
12/1/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 1, 2004
2004 COACHES' ALL-BIG 12 CONFERENCE TEAMS
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WACO, Texas - Five Baylor football student-athletes earned All-Big 12 Conference honors, the league office announced Wednesday. Return specialist Willie Andrews and punter Daniel Sepulveda earned first-team honors, while linebacker Justin Crooks, defensive back Maurice Lane and wide receiver Dominique Zeigler earned honorable mention.
Oklahoma led all schools with eight first-team selections; Oklahoma and Texas (six) were the only schools with more first-team honorees than Baylor.
This is just the second time in the nine-year history of the Big 12 Conference that Baylor has placed two student-athletes on the coaches' first team. Andrews and Sepulveda are the first Bears to earn first-team All-Big 12 honors since punter Ty Atteberry and return specialist Kalief Muhammad earned first-team accolades in 1996, the first season of the Big 12.
Baylor's five total honorees are also the most since the inception of the Big 12. In two seasons under head coach Guy Morriss, nine Bears have earned all-conference honors, one shy of Baylor's total for the 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 seasons combined.
Andrews, a junior from Longview, Texas, established Baylor single season records for total kick return yards (1,184), kickoff return yards (741) and punt return yards (443). He currently leads the Big 12 and ranks 21st nationally with 24.7 yards per kickoff return; he ranks fourth in the conference and 45th nationally with 10.8 yards per punt return. Andrews ranks sixth in the Big 12 and 60th nationally with 107.6 all-purpose yards per game, the most of any student-athlete in the nation without offensive yardage.
Sepulveda, a sophomore from Dallas, Texas, earns all-conference honors for the second time after being named second team last year. He joins Kyle Atteberry (1997-1998), Garry Baxter (1998-1999-2000), Adam Stiles (2000-2001) and Reggie Newhouse (2001-2002) as the only Bears to earn All-Big 12 honors more than once.
A finalist for the Ray Guy Award, Sepulveda ranks second in the Big 12 and third nationally with 46.0 yards per punt, the second-best single-season average in school history. Sepulveda also leads the conference with 24 punts of 50-plus yards and 26 punts downed inside the opponent's 20 yard line. Baylor ranks fifth nationally in net punting at 40.6 yards per punt; Sepulveda's 42.5 net average ranks second nationally.
Crooks, a senior from Round Rock, Texas, finished the season with career highs of 87 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and two fumbles forced. He also recovered two fumbles, scored a defensive touchdown and matched his career best with two sacks. Crooks ranks sixth in the conference in tackles, fifth among linebackers, and is second in the Big 12 in tackles for loss. His 16 tackles for loss tie for the fourth-best single-season total in Baylor history.
Lane, a junior from Killeen, Texas, tallied 104 tackles on the season, third in the Big 12. After totaling 129 tackles in 2003, Lane becomes just the 10th player in school history to record 100 or more tackles in consecutive seasons and the first since Rodney Smith in 1997 and 1998. Lane made 77 solo stops this season, tops in the Big 12 and eighth in Baylor history.
A sophomore from Killeen, Texas, Zeigler led the Bears with 55 receptions; he also had 536 yards receiving and five touchdown receptions. He ranks third in the conference and 31st nationally with 5.5 receptions per game, and his 53.6 yards receiving per game average ranks ninth in the Big 12 and 98th nationally. Zeigler recorded at least two receptions in every game and averaged 7.8 catches per game over the final four contests.
Zeigler's best game was a 12-catch, 121-yard, two-touchdown performance in Baylor's upset of 16th-ranked Texas A&M. In that game, Zeigler caught the game-tying touchdown pass and the ensuing game-winning two-point conversion pass.
All-Big 12 Conference teams are selected by the league's 12 head coaches, who are not permitted to vote for their own players.
Oklahoma quarterback Jason White repeated as Offensive Player of the Year, while Texas linebacker Derrick Johnson was named Defensive Player of the Year. Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson earned both offensive freshman and offensive newcomer honors. Colorado linebacker Jordon Dizon and Iowa State linebacker Tim Dobbins earned defensive freshman and defensive newcomer honors, respectively. Iowa State's Dan McCarney was named Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year.
